Monthly Archives: December 2012

What happens when termite damage is ignored for too long? The termites can cause devastating structural damage. ABC news in Los Angeles reports that a 104 year old building was condemned and a family left homeless for Christmas when the … Continue reading →

Hawaii has a problem with an invasive weed, Senecio madagascariensis, known locally as “Fireweed” or Madagascar ragwort. Fireweed is believed to have been accidentally introduced into Hawaii in a shipment of mulch from Australia over a decade ago. The Fireweed … Continue reading →

Almost 60 percent of all described species on earth are insects. Between 700,000 to 900,000 unique insect species have been described. Many species have never been described. Estimates for numbers of insect species are difficult to make. One method of … Continue reading →

Insects get their supply of oxygen from trachea, tubes that open to the outside at the spiracles (muscular valves) and branch to deliver oxygen to every cell in the body. Trachea must be large enough to accommodate the oxygen requirements … Continue reading →

All animals need oxygen to live. Insect get their oxygen through a series of tubes called trachea. Large trachea connect to the outside and then branch ever smaller to end in tiny tubes that deliver oxygen to each insect cell … Continue reading →

As the concentration of sugar in a solution increases, the viscosity increases exponentially. A dilute sugar solution will “pour” rapidly like water, but high concentrations are “as slow as molasses”. Kim and colleagues have devised a mathematical model* to calculate … Continue reading →

Santa Claus brought Christmas Cheer to all last night including Mr Grouch. When Santa and his reindeer arrived at his cave, Mr Grouch barred the entrance. “Santa, Keep that reindeer out of the cave! It’s full of fleas!” Santa turned … Continue reading →